Dancing with Death
by Cyra Bergen
Summary: The girls meet someone with an unusual relationship with Death and Leo. Teaser: 'Leo gasped in amazement and in a moment of bewildered, reckless concern he stood up, which was why the bullet went straight through his head.' Ideas, comments very welcome.
1. No Man's Lans

Chapter One: No Man's Land. 

"_But she would weep to see today _

_how on his skin the swart flies move: _

_the dust upon the paper eye _

_and the burst stomach like a cave"_ (Keith Douglas, Vergissmeinicht.)

She quickly searched the pockets of the man lying face down in the mud. Two dollars, a photo of a naively smiling girl, address written on the back, a golden crucifix on a dirty cord, a piece of chocolate and a blackened letter. She put the chocolate in her mouth. He wouldn't need it anymore.

"Elizabeth!"

His cry got lost in the sound of exploding grenades around them. For a moment Leo thought his tympanic membranes would explode inside his head and drip out from his ears. Under his hands the wounded man got into a spasm, barely conscious that Leo was trying to staunch the flow of blood from the his temple.

"Elizabeth, I need more gauze!"

She turned, put the crucifix, photo and letter in her pocket, and searched the battlefield for the source of the sound. She found Leo in a slit trench, desperately trying to apply pressure to a man's head wound with one hand while trying to restrain his convulsive body with the other.

A soldier down. Another soldier down. Situation Normal, All Fucked Up. She sighed and shook her head while she looked at the shattered body.

"It's a goner, Leo."

"None of that, Eliza, we have to try!"

She concentrated on restraining the soldier's spastic body, partly to keep him from hitting one of them, partly to avoid Leo's reproachful eyes.

Often he called her a seasoned pessimist. She rather referred to herself as a pragmatist. She teasingly called him a misguided Samaritan.

They had met on the flight to Europe. He was trying to write his wife a letter. He had promised to write her. She borrowed him a pencil. Two medics going off to fight a fight that, up till then, had not been theirs. The war made them friends. Where possible she watched over her idealistic, but sometimes naive, colleague. Yet, deep down she wished she could be more like him. Young, innocent, passionate. Once she was all those things. But years of violence, pain and fear had hardened her, perhaps too much, and the innocent Elizabeth had died a slow, agonizing dead. The only thing that remained of the careless free spirit that she once was, was a vague memory.

Leo was too gentle for this work, for this world.

"Save your efforts Leo. He's already gone." The man had gone limp in her arms.

She stretched her back and froze at what she saw.

"No," it was barely a whisper.

From the corned of his eye Leo saw Elizabeth standing up. "Eliza, keep low." Motionless she looked at a spot right behind him. He turned to see: nothing. Slowly the dark shadow behind Leo converted into the shape she knew so well. Leo reached out, grabbed her shirt and tried to pull her down.

The projectile just missed his hand but ripped open Elizabeth's stomach.

"_The burst stomach like a cave"_

For Leo time slowed down. He tried to scream but his lips remained soundless. Blood gushed from the wound, turning his hands and sleeves dark red.

Elizabeth looked down and placed her hands across the gaping gap to prevent her intestines from falling out.

She breathed deeply, pushed the edges of the gash towards each other, and under her hands the wound, to Leo's horror, closed itself. The only thing that reminded of the hit was her torn, bloodstained shirt.

Leo gasped in amazement and in a moment of bewildered, reckless concern for Eliza he stood up, which was why the bullet went straight through his head.

A sudden sharp pain, and then bright white lights.

"Where is he?" she demanded from the shape behind Leo, which had gradually taken the form of a tall man dressed in black.

She stepped over Leo's fast cooling body. "Where is his ghost? Why can't I see him?"

"He is not here. Apparently his destiny lies not with me," said Death.

The anger on her face turned into wonder.

Death looked up at the sky. "It lies up there, with them," he said.

"He is to become a whitelighter?"

"That surprises you?"

She sighed. "No, it doesn't. It's just, he saw what happened to me. My amazing recovery. If he hadn't tried to pull me down, if he had just stayed low…"

"He still would have died, it was inevitable."

"It always is," she said bitterly.

Elizabeth looked at Death's face. "Any chance they changed their minds, you know, regarding me? I'm a field medic in a war after all, it wouldn't be that difficult."

Death suddenly took a great interest in the noses of his shoes, not wanting to meet her hopeful green eyes.

"I don't think so," he muttered.

She looked down at Leo's body, knowing that when she would look up Death would be gone.

"Till we meet again" she whispered both to Leo as Death.


	2. Echoes from the Past

_Chapter Two: Echoes from the Past._

_"But the bullets cried with laughter,_

_the shells were overcome with mirth,_

_plunging their heads in steel and earth-_

_(the air commented in a whisper" ( Keith Douglas, Gallantry)_

_The Manor_

"I do not want to discuss this! " Piper slammed the door behind her, almost breaking Phoebe's nose who walked straight into it.

"Oh yes you do" Phoebe said irritated while pushing the door open and rubbing her nose.

"I think I deserve an explanation. I don't understand why you are so agitated. I only kicked a demon's butt."

Piper turned, eyes burning with indignation.

"No Phoebe, you almost got killed by a demon. Big difference. You've got lucky. You didn't know anything about it. It could have been way stronger than us."

Phoebe put her hands on her hips. "Hello, I remember a time when you were vanquishing every demon you came across without bothering to ask for its M.O. Hell, you even scryed for them."

"That was different, and you know it is" she hissed.

"Please explain how that is different," responded Phoebe.

Piper took a deep breath and lowered her voice.

"Phoebe, we have to be more careful, now Leo is mortal. We do not have an in –house- healer anymore. "

"Oh, if that's what you're worrying about, Paige can heal."

Piper threw her hands up in despair. "Paige is not free to orb in and out as Leo was, and she is only half whitelighter. Her healing powers are not that strong."

"I know" said Phoebe "but I'm sure when the time comes…"

"No" interrupted Piper. "I do not want you to risk your life in the hope that when the time comes Paige will know what to do. No, not a word," she said when Phoebe attempted to object. "Will you please, for once, listen to your big sister!"

"Ladies," Leo's head appeared above the banister of the stairs.

"Could you keep it down? I've just put the boys to bed."

"Leo" Piper began "could you please tell your sister-in-law that she cannot attack a demon without knowing anything about it."

Leo frowned "Isn't that what you normally do?"

"Thank you Leo," said Phoebe.

"Not any more" said Piper. "Not know you're mortal and can't heal us any more."

"Speaking of which" said Phoebe "how is it, being mortal again Leo?"

"Don't change the subject."

Leo smiled. "Well, the great thing about not being your whitelighter anymore is that I can withhold myself from any opinion about your sisterly quarrels."

"No, you can't" said Phoebe and Piper in choir. "Your family. Family is supposed to have opinions and meddle, so start meddling! That's what family does."

""Yes, and if you have a family dispute I will happily say something about it, but this is a witch thing."

Upstairs Wyatt started to cry.

"Saved by the baby. I will go and check" said Leo and hurried upstairs.

"Coward!" Piper called after him.

""He does that a lot," said Phoebe while laying her head on Piper's shoulder. "I think we scare him. So, you think we can talk without you trying to bite my head off?"

Despite herself Piper smiled. Phoebe always could make her smile.

"Come, I make you a hot cocoa and we talk."

"A hot cocoa?" said Piper.

"Yes, I find that hot cocoa can solve many, many problems. For women anyway. I strongly suspect that a magical, very good, wise witch has created it. Why not devour a chocolate cake while we're at it?"

_Piper and Leo's Room_

Leo looked a Piper brushing her hair.

"What are you looking at?"

Leo shrugged. "Well, a beautiful woman. I sometimes find it hard to believe that you're really my wife." Piper turned and kissed him. "You better believe it. And I'm here to stay."

Leo lied back on their bed. "You and Phoebe worked things out?"

"Yeah, I guess I got a little overexcited. But only little. I'm still getting used to this new situation. I kind of got used to the fact that you were only a call away. I actually tried to call you today, you know, when we we're battling that demon. When you didn't show I realized how vulnerable we are without your healing powers to back us up. How vulnerable you are now."

She slipped into bed next to him and he pulled her close to him.

"I'm fine. We will get used to it. Stop worrying."

Piper sighed. "I hope your right. Sometimes I just feel I have to explode or I will go mad."

"Well, you're a very passionate woman."

She smiled. He always knew when to say the right thing. "Wright now I'm a very tired woman. Goodnight Leo, I love you."

…_sound of exploding grenades around……screaming men…… ruptured aorta……amputate……last letter home……more pressure……soldier down……Leo, tell her I love her……guts faling out ……can't hold on..…I'm scared……situation normal, fucked up……It's a goner…burst open…Elizabeth, help me……can't see……help me, Mum, help me……too young to die……Eliza, more gauze……not our war……promise me to write……promise me to…promise…sharp pain … bright white lights…_

"Elizabeth!"

Leo woke up with a start. The sheets were damp and he noticed that he was breathing heavily.

"Leo, honey, you're okay?" asked Piper drowsily.

"Yeah, just a bad dream. Go back to sleep. I just go downstairs to get some milk."

Piper already slept before he had finished his sentence.

The rest of the night Leo sat at the kitchen table, afraid of going back to sleep again.


	3. What are Sisters for?

What are Sisters for? 

Paige Matthews reached in her coat pocket to search for her keys, stopped and withdrew her hand. A typical, though peculiar, family trait of the Halliwels was that they never locked the front door. She never gotten used to that. Her own parents, that is, her adoptive parents were very resolute about keeping all the windows and doors locked. Not as much as too prevent criminals from getting in but to keep Paige from getting out. It seldom worked though. She was a very inventive teenager and, more importantly, very slim. She used to slide out through the small attic window. The only window that was always open with respect to the drier. She stifled a smile when she remembered all the times she sneaked out to parties her parents forbade her to go to. In retrospect, they were right. She lost a few things on those parties she would never regain, and found, experienced some things she would have rather stayed oblivious of. But she had been young and rebellious, looking for adventure. Once, after a long, slow and lazy summer she had tried her attic window trick again and had gotten desperately stuck. Apparently the summer had been a little bit too lazy and she had gained some weight. After struggling for an hour she had no option but to call for help. She could still hear father reprimand her and her mother crying when they found out about her little escape trick. The Halliwel manor was, with the exception of the occasional demon fight, peaceful.

Paige smiled and pushed the door open.

From the kitchen came a scream, the sound of breaking glass and a child crying.

Paige ran to the kitchen, leaving the door open and stumbled upon Piper, Wyatt and Chris. The kitchen floor was covered in milk and glass, with Wyatt in the middle, crying.

"Don't do that!" Piper quickly snatched away some car keys that Chris had tried to put in his mouth. Piper turned and saw Paige standing in the doorpost.

"Oh good, auxiliary troops."

Chris didn't agree with the fact that he had to forfeit his newfound toy and stared to cry, possibly even harder than his brother. Paige covered her ears. "Where's Leo!" Piper shrugged and vaguely waved towards Chris indicating Paige to pick him up. "There there, everything's fine." Piper cleaned Wyatt and gave him a kiss on his forehead, which pacified him. "Go play with your toy soldiers while mummy cleans up the mess, okay."

Paige rocked Chris gently and looked at Piper who was picking up the pieces of glass. She looked tired.

"Since when are you a single mum?" she asked. "Where's Leo. I though that now that he is mortal he would take more care of the boys."

Piper stood up, wiped her hands and gave Paige a thoughtful look. Paige immediately regretted her words. Piper's eyes had been filled with concern.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I know it is difficult for Leo to adjust. Phoebe and I know that he's not himself lately and…"

Piper silenced her with a quick hand gesture and sat down at the kitchen table.

"You've noticed."

"Kinda hard not too, living under the same roof and all." She sat down with Chris in her lap, supporting his back wit her right arm.

"I mean, he hardly ever sleeps. When I get home late or wake up at night he's always awake, never wanting to tell what's wrong. He is silent and… well, Phoebe and I just noticed that he is acting a bit weird. Not himself."

Piper nodded.

"We thought that he needed some time to adjust. You know, being mortal again. So, we didn't mention it, not wanting to upset you. We thought it would pass."

"So did I," said Piper and let her head hang. Paige took her hand and caressed it.

"Tell me."

Normally she would talk to Phoebe first. No matter how much she loved Paige, she grew up with Phoebe and Paige was still only her half sister, but now she really needed to talk, to tell someone. She took a deep breath:

"It started a few weeks ago. I guess a week after he became mortal. He began having nightmares. At first I didn't think much of it. I mean, we all have nightmares, sometimes. Especially with the life we lead." She laughed, but there was no humor in it. "However, the dreams got worse. He wakes up at night, sweating, screaming…scared, really scared. Sometimes he cries in his sleep and when I wake him he doesn't know where he is. A few days ago he stopped going to bed at all. He just sits at the table, looking into space, not seeing anything. He avoids the boys, like he is afraid of them." She looked at Paige as if looking for an answer. "He doesn't want to tell me what's wrong. My own husband doesn't dare to tell me what's wrong. He doesn't let me help. I got mad about it once, screamed, told him that if he didn't want to tell me that it meant that he didn't trust me, he didn't love me or the boys." She fell silent.

"What happened then?"

"Nothing. He didn't defend himself, didn't explain himself or even denied it. He just sat there. Face blank, like he wasn't there. We've been through a lot Paige, Leo and I, but I've always been able to reach him. To connect with him. But not this time. I'm scared Paige."

Paige squeezed Piper's hand, not knowing what to say. Piper scared, her big, grown up, tough sister scared.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be bothering you with my marital problems," Piper said while she wiped away a single tear.

"Hey, don't apologize. That's why you have sisters. Like I said we've noticed but didn't want to intrude on your privacy. But on hearing this I think perhaps we should have."

Piper smiled, relieved that she told someone and feeling blessed with two caring sisters. She should have told earlier.

In the hall a small breeze of wind made the door fell into the lock. The small "click" it caused reached the kitchen. Both Piper and Paige tensed.

"Didn't you close the door when you came in?"

Paige stood up, shifting Chris to her left arm. Did she? She came in heard the din in the kitchen en ran… "I didn't."

They looked at each other in alarm.

"Where's Wyatt?"


	4. Waterballet

_Waterballet_

"For once I myself saw with my own eyes the Sibyl hanging in a cage, and when the boys said too her "Sibyl, what do you want?" she replied, "I want to die." She put her well-read copy of _The_ _Waste Land _in her lap and tasted the translation of the Greek text on her lips. Not the best translation ever, but it sufficed. "Let me show you fear in a handful of dust." She sighed. She didn't know why she tortured herself so by reading this passage of _The Waste Land _over and over again. "A tendency to masochism I guess." Every time she read the poem she found something different in it. Different times, different texts, new inter text. Constantly changing. She closed her eyes and turned her face towards the sun. Even the sun changed. The warmth it gave was not the same as it was when she was a young girl. It stung more.

Here she was, again, San Francisco, waiting on a wooden bench in the park. Waiting…for what? No, don't' think about that. Just enjoy the sun. It was no use wondering why she was pulled to certain places, she would find out automatically, so why worry about it. Yet, it didn't feel quite right this time.

Soft footsteps on the graveled path. She kept her eyes closed. It sounded like a child. She waited for the footstep of the accompanying parent, it didn't come. The footsteps of the child disappeared. The child must have stepped onto the grass. Still no sound of the parent. The grass leads to a little pond. She opened her eyes. A little blond boy sat at the bank of the pond. The boy reminded her of someone she knew and lost, not that long ago. At least, to her not long ago. The boy was sitting dangerously close to the water. She wondered, looked around, no sign of the parent and, luckily for the boy, also no sign of him. So, apparently not so dangerous. She considered her options. If she were a normal person she would get up and pull the boy away, giving him a lecture that it was dangerous to play next to a pond. At least, she hoped that was what normal people did nowadays. Culture and values changed too. On the other head, considering that the black figure still hadn't shown up the boy wasn't going to drown. So, why bother getting up. The boy wasn't her responsibility. Humanity itself wasn't her responsibility anymore. Her body made the decision for her when the boy got up, fell over an open shoelace and into the water. Without thinking she rushed forward, plunged into the water and pulled the boy out by the back of his shirt. Nice to know I still have normal human reflexes, she thought.

The little boy cried when they clambered back onto the bank. She carried him back to the wooden bench and put him on her lap facing her. "Stop crying" she said not unkind. Not being used to such a treatment the boy stopped in amazement. He looked at his rescuer with big blue eyes. Her hair was blond with highlights of red, copper and black. She had one green and one blue eye and a thin white scar ran down her left cheek. She narrowed her eyes and looked intensely at the boy, as if she was looking for affirmation of something she didn't quite believe. "I'll be damned," she said. "Are you the product of changing times Mon petit?" She picked up her Eliot and quickly looked around to assure herself that they were alone. "Lets see if you are." She leaned forward till their noses were almost touching. "Can you bring us to your home, little angel? " Blue lights covered the two figures on the bench and a moment later only the pool of water underneath the bench reminded of their encounter.

Wyatt and the woman with the two different eyes materialized in the sunroom of the manor. She looked around and smiled. "The times are changing, indeed."


	5. Defences Breaking Down

"_In your head they are dying" (Zombie, The Cranberries)._

He walked with his eyes cast toward the ground, not wanting to see the questioning, disgusted faces of passersby. He knew he looked awful, he didn't have to see that confirmed in the eyes of strangers. In the past he used to look people straight in the face, smiling at them. Even the most annoyed, angry face would lighted up and smile back when they saw him, that was his strength. It seemed like a lifetime ago, no, several lifetimes ago.

God, he was tired. He couldn't remember ever having been so tired. Actually he could, but he didn't want to think about that. Don't let those memories take over the daytime too. It's bad enough that they torture the night. A sharp headache from throbbed behind his eyes. Leo rubbed his temples. His body ached and sometimes he had to stop to catch his breath. He felt old. He smiled a bitter smile. He had the memories of an old man and lately he felt his body was finally catching up.

His phone buzzed for the tenth time.

Piper. He did not answer.

What was there to say. "Sorry honey than I am so cranky lately. That I don't make love to you anymore. That I am not the man you married anymore."

Everything was supposed to be easier now that he was mortal. God, that had been a misconception. He should have had more time to be here, on earth with his family, to be a father, a husband. However, in his mind he was further away than ever. When he brought the boys to bed in his head he was numbering corpses. When he held Piper he was holding a dying friend. When the boys were laughing he heard the cries of the soldiers falling around him and the slightest noise brought back the explosions. Explosions in his head. No don't think about that. Don't let them die in your head.

The door of the mansion was wide open.

"They never learn." Leo closed the door behind him. No coats on the hallstand, strange. In the living room he heard Wyatt laughing. "More" crowed his son. Someone started to sing in a language he didn't understand. A high, clear voice which he did not recognize. "Demons?"

He rushed into the living room knocking over Piper's favorite vase, and came to a sudden full stop at what he saw there. A young woman with long hair sat on the couch, singing a song for Wyatt. The boy watched her lips in admiration, mouth open. The song ended and the woman looked up.

"Hello Leo."

The face was familiar. Young and at the same time ancient. Leo grabbed the doorpost as the memories washed over him. Shells were exploding around him, men were screaming, fighting, crying, dying, blood on his hands, the knowledge hat he couldn't save the all, he fought down he urge to vomit, his head felt like it would explode, and through this all the face of the woman appeared. She laid her hands on his shoulders.

"Leo, come back to me."

He was back in the living room. Wyatt on the couch looking at his father with large eyes filled with fear.

He was tired, so tired. Her slender white hands caressed his face. "My god Leo, how could they have done this to you?"

He looked up and found understanding in her eyes. The walls of his last defenses broke down, the headache struck like lighting.

"Elizabeth" he whispered, the world went black and he collapsed in her arms.


	6. Unexpected Suprise

The curious sightseers recoiled in horror when the realized that the young man had died. At the approaching sound of the ambulance the crowd parted. Piper elbowed herself through the throng of people closely followed by Paige. They walked across the street towards Phoebe, who was waiting with Chris on her hip. Piper shook her head and Phoebe exhaled, only realizing then that she had been holding her breath. When they had heard the sirens all three of them had jumped the conclusion that they must be ringing for Wyatt. They had run for three blocks to find that a young man had been hit by a car, a hit and run. Sad as this was, they could not help feeling relieved that it wasn't Wyatt. The relief was however tempered by the fact that their little boy was still doing a frightfully good impersonation of Remi: All alone in the world.

"Lets go home. Perhaps he is already there," she said with feigned hope. "And if not we can scry for him." A tall, slim figure all dressed in black, whom no one appeared to see, watched them leave before bending over the recently departed. "Come," he said, and the young man stood up while his body remained lying on the cold street.

The first thing Piper noticed was that the door was closed. Her heart sank. If Wyatt had come home by himself she doubted that he would have closed the door behind him.

"I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry." Paige's big eyes almost begged for forgiveness. Piper turned.

"Sorry, you're sorry?" Paige took a step back at hearing the venom in Piper's voice.

"My son is wandering out there, all alone because you're so stupid you can't remember how to close a door and you're sorry? "

"Hush, both of you" Phoebe intervened. Having become the middle sister had made her the mediator and she wasn't altogether sure she liked the job.

"You two have been fighting ever since you called me, and let me tell you, we won't find Wyatt that way." She raised a warning finger when Paige opened her mouth.

"Uh, not a word, just go inside and start scrying. Go!"

The door of the mansion opened.

"Hello," said Wyatt who was sitting in the middle of the hallway clutching his teddy bear.

"Wyatt!" choired the sisters.

Piper rushed forward, picked him up and pressed him against her. "Wyatt, don't you ever, ever, ever do that again. You almost gave mummy a heart attack"

"Yes, and you aunties to," said Paige who carefully put an arm around her big sister and found, to her relief, that she accepted it.

Wyatt, who didn't understand what all the fuss was about, released himself from his mothers grip and pointed at the sun room.

"Daddy."

The sisters looked at each other and Phoebe was the first to walk toward the doors.

"Oh God"

Leo was lying on the ground, face down.

"Leo," Phoebe gently turned him over.

His eyes were closed, his face white, sweat beaded his forehead and his breathing was shallow.

Piper knelt beside him and caressed his face. He was burning up. "Honey, wake up."

Slowly Leo opened his eyes but he wasn't seeing.

"They're dying. They are all dying," he whispered.

"What? What do you mean honey?"

His breathing accelerated and he grasped Pipers arms in panic, she was alarmed at how weak his grip was.

"They are all dying, hurt, can't, can't save them."

Piper and Phoebe looked at each other.

"Take it easy honey. Who is dying?"

Leo swallowed hard.

"Lost them all, lost them. Elizabeth," whispered Leo before he slid into unconsciousness.

"Who is Elizabeth?" asked Phoebe.

"That would be me," said a clear voice behind them.


	7. The Meeting

**The Meeting**

'_Some religions believe that the dead must journey a across a vast empty desert, or sea, or range of metaphorical mountains, in order to receive some kind of judgement at the end. There are various heaven and hells._' (Terry Pratchett, The Discworld Companion).

The young man looked down at his own body. His neck shouldn't be in that position, should it? And he was absolutely one-hundred percent sure that his right thighbone should not protrude through his flesh like that. He checked his body with his hands. All seemed intact though.

'In afterlife you look like you remember yourself.'

The young man spun around. In front of the sightseers stood a tall, blond man dressed in black. He had spoken with an British accent.

'I'm dead?'

'Yes'

'Damn.' He looked at his body once more. 'And you are?'

'Death'

The recently deceased blinked in semantic confusion. 'Oh, I see,' he said when realisation dawned. He looked around. "I saw a light.'

'I know'

'I reached for it.'

'But it withdrew'

'I know that too.'

'Anything I can tell you that you don't know already.'

'No.'

The man nodded. 'You must be fun at parties.' He looked around again, not knowing what to do or expect next. The sightseers where slowly retreating. The best part of the show was over. It was no like he could die a second time. The walked past him, even through him, not seeing him. '

'Why did it withdrew, you know, the light?'

'Unfinished business.'

'You mean, I have to finish some things here before I can cross over.

'I thought that was just a myth? Created by CBS.'

'Yes, well, scriptwriters have the uncanny quality to be right in matters of the spiritual realm.'

The man looked at Death who had the decency to look embarrassed.

'You're kidding?'

'You'd be amazed.' He took a step closer. 'Anyway, for some people it is a myth. But not for you.'

The man looked at Death's face. His calm was infuriating.

'I'm not even religious. I don't believe in this crap, ghosts and all…afterlife.'

'We live and learn' Death said, paused a second and corrected; 'well, die and learn in your case. I suggest you take care of whatever it is you left unfinished.'

'How? You know how, of course?'.

No. That I do not know.'

'Ha!' The man's triumphant look quickly sagged when he realised that this was not really in his best interest.

'But I know someone who can. And its your lucky day,' another pause. 'Well apart from the dying bit then. She just met some people who might be able to help you. Her name is Elizabeth.'

--------------------

Elizabeth didn't even bother to duck when Piper, acting on maternal protective impulse, tried to freeze her.

Paige and Phoebe simultaneously grasped her arm and both were too late. Maternal instincts are catlike.

'Don't!' screamed Phoebe.

'Do not!' Piper yelled while she jerked herself free from her siblings' tell me what to do. My baby has gone missing for he past few hours, suddenly he turns up, my husband's unconscious on the floor and there is, what else is new, an intruder in my own house. So don't tell what to do!'

'You're finished?'

The three sisters stared at the young woman.

'She's not frozen?' Phoebe stated the over -obvious.

'Well, yeah, the fact that she just said something kind off gave it away don't ya think?' Paige responded.

'Okay, no need to be sarcastic.'

Elizabeth looked at her watched and sighed. She didn't have time for this. Normally she had all the time in the world. But not know.

'Why didn't she freeze?' Piper looked at Paige and Phoebe. Phoebe reflected that Piper had a way of looking at people at if it was all their fault. It was the same look she was getting now and she hated it.

'You're a wi..ouch.' Paige couldn't finish her sentence. A well- place kick from Phoebe's high heels has a tendency to do that.

'We don't use the W- word in front of strangers', she hissed.

'But she didn't freeze' Paige replied through her teeth while rubbing he leg.

'I know'

'No, I am not a witch,' Elizabeth said.

'Than what the hell are you, and what are you doing in my house? No, don't answer that. I don't care what you are doing here just get out.'

'You'll have to excuse our big sister,' Phoebe intervened and stepping in front of Piper. 'She's is a bit upset. You know, with Wyatt lost, you turning up here, Wyatt, Leo.. uhm... who did you say you were again?'

'Nice try' whispered Paige. 'Very inconspicuous.'

''Who's being sarcastic now?' Phoebe whispered back.

Elizabeth sighed. 'Are you three always like this? No wonder the little boy ran away from home. You should look better after him. I guess he's the object of much attention. Being half- whitelighter half witch after all.'

Three mouths fell open.

'How do you know that?' Phoebe asked.

Elizabeth shrugged. 'I'm a friend of Leo's.' She tried to take a step closer to Leo but Piper blocked her.

'Don't you come near my husband.' She knelt next to Leo. Paige and Phoebe hurried to help. They dragged Leo onto the couch. He coughed but his eyes remained closed.

'Leo, honey, wake up.'

He moved his lips and after a few seconds words followed: 'They're dying. Can't save them.' He was shivering and his voice was coarse. Piper put a hand on his head and was alarmed by the heat radiating of his body. 'What's wrong with him?'

Elizabeth shook her head. 'His defences are breaking down. Contact the Elders, tell them they pushed it too far this time. They'll understand.'

Elizabeth turned and headed for the door.

'Wait,' Piper yelled, but the anger had left her voice and had been replaced with concern. Elizabeth did not turn and Piper tried to freeze her again.

Elizabeth turned. 'As you have already noticed you can't freeze me, so stop trying.' She looked past the sisters at Leo.

'Take care of him'.

They turned. Leo was breathing heavily, almost choking. Piper pushed him in an upright position supported by Phoebe. Leo coughed again and to the sisters horror the sofa was sprayed with small drops of blood.

'Oh God' Paige whispered.

Behind them the front door closed.


	8. Contrapasso

Note: I borrow elements and names from Greek mythology and many, many other sources

_Note: I borrow elements and names from Greek mythology and many, many other sources. I take the cheeky liberty to change the facts to suit my own story. My sincere apologies for this. Please blame it on poetic licence. _

**Contrapasso**

"_Who wants to live forever,_

_when love must die?" Queen_

'Elizabeth, Elizabeth…' Phoebe muttered while hers fingers ruffled the pages.

The attic echoed the oppressive silence that lingered in the manor. Strange, Phoebe thought, how concern about someone always tends to absorb every sound. In times of illness everyone lowers his voice to a whisper, even though there is no one there to hear. Like whispering in a cathedral. She turned another page and a small cloud off dust emerged from the book. Another strange thing, Phoebe thought. It did not matter how often Piper cleaned the attic, it was always dusty. Phoebe had put it down to a typical attic- attribute. Attics just had to be dusty.

The door opened and Phoebe and Piper entered. Their presence did not turn the plague of concern into a blithe spirit though. Rather it multiplied by three. The power three, the weakness and worries of three.

'How's Leo?'

Piper shrugged. 'The coughing has subsided, for now. But he still wont wake up. He keeps talking in his sleep, about people dying and that Elizabeth woman. It doesn't make any sense.'

'Anything in the book?'

'Still looking Paige.'

Paige threw her hands up in despair. 'You know, maybe we should just call a doctor. Leo is mortal after all. Maybe he just got some virus, or food poisoning or something. Not everything has to be witchy.'

Piper gave her an odd look. 'In this house? No, this is something magic. I can feel it in my bones.'

Paige opened her mouth but Piper held up a warning finger. 'Don't argue with me. Witch power combined with maternal and wife instinct. Infallible.'

Paige quickly closed her mouth. She hated the way Piper always acted like she had the monopoly on wisdom. However, this was not the place nor time to start an argument. Besides that, Leo was not her husband.

'Ah, here it is.' Two heads turned towards Paige who was nosedeep in the book of shadows.

'Elizabeth,' Phoebe began in her storybook voice, which was slightly higher and more melodiously than her normal voice and strictly reserved for her nephews and the book of shadows. 'Elizabeth, guide to the dead. Among else she helps spirits to leave their earthbound bodies.'

'Like, she guides them as in how the decompose, yuck.'

'Hush Paige, there is more. Elizabeth was born in 82…'

'1982?' Piper did a quick math. 'That makes her 25.'

'B.C,' Phoebe continued. 'Born in 82 Before Christ.'

The three sisters looked at each other.

'Damn,' Paige exclaimed. 'She looks good for her age.'

'She's a demon?'

Phoebe turned to the book again. 'No, it says here that she was born human. There is more.' She turned the page.

'Elizabeth was born and raised near Mantua.'

'That's in Italy', she explained to Paige.

'I know, just because you've been to college doesn't mean I don't know anything.'

'Her mother, a priestess to the goddess Hera, died in childbirth. The grief over his wife's dead drove her father, Dealdalus, mad. Dealdalus, an inventor blessed with the power of craftsmanship by the god Hepheastos, decided that no one should ever die. He constructed a cage in which he put an old man that was nearing the end of his life. When Death came to collect the old man's soul, Dealdalus closed and sealed the cage. Hence, Death was trapped for 25 years.'

Paige made a face. 'Trapped? So, no one died in those 25 years?'

'Well, that explains the current overpopulation' Phoebe said. 'That's something you don't find in the history books.'

'Who would believe it? Read on Phoebe.'

'The cage was constructed as such… Phoebe turned the page. 'Hey, there's a page missing. Its torn out. Why would someone do that?'

The sisters looked at each other.

'Perhaps someone doesn't wants us to know how to capture Death,' Paige suggested. 'Think about it, defeating Death. The possibilities.'

'I'm not sure that would be such a good idea,' Piper said quietly. 'Although I must say it sounds very appealing right now.' Piper turned her head and looked at the open door. Paige and Phoebe looked at each other, unspoken they both knew who Piper was thinking about. 'No time to think about that now,' Piper said more to her self than to her siblings. 'Just read what's still there.'

'It starts halfway a sentence. Euhm… turning 25 Elizabeth released Death from his cage.'

'Why would she do that?'

Both Piper as Phoebe shrugged.

'In the space of an hour Death had claimed all the souls that belonged to him. However, he also tried to claim Elizabeth although it was not Elisabeth's time. Therewith he broke the law as laid down to him by the gods. Both Elizabeth as Death were punished via the laws of contrapasso.' Phoebe looked up. 'That means that the punishment should fit the crime.' Two heads nodded in understanding. 'Via the laws of contrapasso Elizabeth was punished with immortality and became guide to the dead. Always being near dead but never being able to die herself. From time to time Death will encounter Elizabeth but he will never be able to claim her as his own. This is his punishment.'

'I don't understand the punishment.' Paige said. 'She is punished with immortality and that is bad why?'

'Who wants to live forever?' Phoebe philosophised as responds.

'Perhaps it is more a punishment for Death?'

'What do you mean,' Piper asked.

'Well,' said Paige. 'I think that Death wanted revenge for being locked up for 25 years and therefore wanted to take Elizabeth, the daughter of the man who had build his prison, before her time. Now she is immortal so he can't take her. So, no revenge.'

'I'm not sure Death thinks that way,' Phoebe said.

'Neither do I' Piper conceded. 'We won't know the full story until we find that missing page. But it doesn't matter. None of this helps Leo.'

'So, contact the elders?' Paige suggested very carefully, well aware that Piper wasn't a big fan of the elders.

Piper nodded slightly. 'Yes, you do that. And Phoebe, you find this Elizabeth woman.'

'And how do you do that?' Paige asked.

Phoebe looked up from the book of shadows and sighted. 'I guess I'm going to pay a visit to the recently deceased.'


	9. Whispers

Whispers **Chapter 9: Whispers**

…

…

…

'Darling, all night I have been flickering, off, on, off, on.

_The sheets grow heavy as a lecher's kiss.' _(Fever 103, Sylvia Plath)

Fever 103.5. She looked at the thermometer as if willing the number to go down. It didn't. She picked up the glass with fresh water and knelt on the bed in the master bedroom. Now the sickroom. She supported her husband's head while she put the glass to his lips.

'Come on Leo, you must drink something.'

The water ran out at the corner of his mouth, coloured red, wetting the blankets.

He's just sleeping, she told herself. In fact she knew that he was not. This was much, much deeper than a natural sleep.

He was still, Very still. At first Piper had thought that would be a blessing, if Leo stopped having these nightmares, stopped trashing around in his sleep and stopped coughing up blood. But this stillness was worse, much worse because she was certain that, despite his stillness, the nightmares were still there. Buried deep in his sleep. It looked like his body just did not have the strength to fight them anymore. His breathing was heavy, as if every breath he took was a struggle. Every time he inhaled she felt relief, immediately followed by anxiety. Waiting for the next breath; how easily we take things for granted. A small trickle of blood ran down his chin. She wiped it away.

'Leo, honey, wake up, please.'

She caressed his forehead. She could fight this fever, keep his body cool, make sure he did not dehydrate but this unnatural sleep she could not fight.

A cool breeze kissed her bare shoulders. Had she left the widow open? She smiled a bitter smile. Leaving things open. Doors, windows and for this man, lying in bed looking like a small boy with , she had opened her heart.

'Please Leo, stay with me. Don't close the door.'

Leaving things open. Phoebe would say it was a typical Halliwel attribute, like dusty attics.

She stood up to close the window. The wind was playing with the curtains like autumn leaves.

'_Why didn't you save us?'_

Before the voices died Piper had spun around, faster than the wind, her hands reflexively in front of her, ready to attack. There was nothing there. Yet, she had heard the whispered words as clearly as if someone had breathed them in her ear. Thousands voices softly whispering, accusing, pleading. Why didn't you save us? On the bed Leo stirred. A soft moan. 'Leo, it's okay. I'm here.' His eyes fluttered but did not open. 'I'm so sorry' he whispered, 'so, so sorry.'

Piper stroked his hair.

'For what honey, what are you sorry for. Please tell me, let me help you…please, please…'


	10. The Abyss

The Abyss Chapter 10: The Abyss

…

;;;

'_Burnt black by strange decay_

_Their sinister faces lie;_

_The lid over each eye,_

_The grass and coloured clay_

_More motion have than they,_

_Joined tot the great sunk silence_' (Dead Man's Dump, Isaac Rosenberg)

The shy was devoid of stars. No silver glimmerings of hope. No pale moon to smile upon. He craned his neck to find a lost star, a small sign of light in this darkness. There was none. Looking down he saw nothing. A big, yawning chasm. Black as the sky above him. Big, black and inviting. The darkness of the abyss seemed to pull at him, engulf him. It was pounding in his cranium; _let go, let go, let go._ Inviting, so inviting, no peace, but no pain either. Nothingness without bliss, without himself. God, how he wanted to escape. Escape from himself. So frighteningly inviting. And yet, he did not dare to jump, nor did he dare to turn around. The voices, the voices were still there and if he turned around he would see their faces. He could hear their hoarse voices. Was there anything else beside these voices. He could not remember. Once he was somewhere else, he had had a life, once. Somewhere where it was warm and safe. People, children who knew him, perhaps even loved him. But that seemed so long ago. So awfully long ago that he doubted that it ever had been real. A dream faded. No, there were only the voices. The abyss and, of course, the voices.

'Why didn't you save us?'

'_You let me die'_

'_My wife my children. I will never see them again'_

'_Your fault, your fault. All your fault,'_

He did not want to see their faces. He could see their shadows from the corner of his eyes. Once he had turned his head.

Sinister faces dirtied with mud, dirtied with blood.

Grass and coloured clay,

Hollow eyes, ragged skins, pierced with metal.

Eyes hanging on cheeks or gone altogether.

Faces smashed to pieces.

Once he had seen a young boy, barely 17, clutching the side of his neck, his pulsating vein pushing through his slender fingers. Silently he had begged for help.

Leo had reached out for him, wanted to help him.

At his touch the boys flesh fell from his bones. His silent plea for help had turned in a cry of agony which was picked up and multiplied by the voices and faces surrounding the boy.

'_Your fault. You let me die. You killed me. Why me? Why did you not save me.'_

Leo had fallen to his knees, he had covered his ears. Yet the voices were as much in his mind as they were outside. Closing your ears only made the heart a better listener.

Now he was here, on the edge of the abyss, which was tempting him to let go. To jump.

'Inviting, is it not.'

A melodic voice, not the voices.

'You are not the first one who is tempted, nor the last one who would give in to it. '

Leo turned his head, slowly, carefully, lest he should see the faces. A man with lank, ash- blond hair, dressed in black was standing next to him.

Leo narrowed his eyes. Recognition dawned.

'I've seen you before.'

'We've met. Briefly.'

Leo searched his memories.

'Eliza. Elizabeth was there'

'Death turned his head to look at Leo. Still the same man, he thought, but scarred.

'Yes, she was there.'

'When…' Leo closed his eyes. When was she there? It was hard to think. If only the voices would be silent. If only the abyss would stop pulling at him, perhaps he could think clearly.

'When you died. The first time that is.'

Leo nodded. Yeah, he had died and Elizabeth had been there.

'Ýou were there too.' It was statement, not a question.

Death nodded.

'Indeed, but you weren't for me then. You were for the bastards in white.' He looked up, briefly. His mouth a thin line of disapproval. Leo did not notice.

'The Elders, I became a whitelighter.' His face was strained in the effort of reminiscence.

Death nodded.

'The question is, Leo, are you mine this time.'

'I'm dying? Is that dead?' he looked down at the abyss.

Death shook his head slowly.

'No, it is a way out, but not dead. I have no power there.'

Leo looked up at the man, puzzled.

'Then why are you here?'

Death took a deep breath and looked up at the starless sky.

'Perhaps I'm becoming a bit sentimental. Too long among humans, you pick up some of their habits. I do not care whether you live or die. Two sides of the same scale to me. Although I must admit your dead would tilt it, slightly. I'm here to remind you at what you leave behind, if you jump.'

Leo frowned and closed his eyes. 'I want to escape these voices, this guilt' he whispered.

Death nodded. 'Yes, but you can't cut it away like you would an infected limp. When you jump, you throw everything who you are away. The good and the bad. Are you really willing to do that. Are you really willing to do that to the people who love you?'

Leo opened his eyes. Memories shone in them: 'Wyatt, Chris…Piper, Piper, Piper.' Anger flared up in Leo. How dared this man talk about love while he himself was guilty of nipping so many loves in the buds.

He turned, vehemently.

_Faces attacked_…… _voices screamed …sound of exploding grenades around……screaming men…… ruptured aorta……amputate……last letter home……more pressure……soldier down……guts faling out ……can't hold on..…I'm scared……situation normal, fucked up……It's a goner…burst open…help me……can't see……help me, Mum, help me……too young to die…you let me die……why dind't you save me….. lost protogee.. why didn't you protect me…. Demons, demons, sinister faces….not our war……promise me to write……promise me to…promise…sharp pain …_

He fell. Two arms supported him and pushed him up. His head hang on his chest, struggling for air, he tasted blood in his mouth.

'I can't get you out of here,' Death hissed in his ear. 'Your walls of defence have collapsed when those bastards made you human, you can't get them up. So don't try.'

Leo tried to struggle free, but Death's grip tightened.

'Listen to me. Don't listen to the abyss. Think about Piper, your boys. The people you love.'

'What do you know about love' Leo panted.

'You'd be surprised.,' and with that Death vanished.

Leo stared in the abyss, constantly repeating one word; Piper.


End file.
